Henderson: Goals down to extra training

The 22-year-old has put his purple patch down to more hours on the training ground practising his finishing

Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson has revealed the secret to his recent goalscoring exploits is that he often stays behind after training to carry out extra work on his finishing.

The England international has forced his way into manager Brendan Rodgers' plans since the turn of the year with a series of energetic displays in the middle of the park.

And after finding the back of the net during the club's 2-1 win over Aston Villa on Saturday with a superbly-taken finish, taking his tally to three in the league for the campaign, Henderson has admitted that his progress in front of goal is down to the fact that he frequently practices it after training is over.

"A lot of players do extra training. I tend to work on my finishing," Henderson told Liverpool's official magazine.

"I think it's important as a midfielder to contribute goals. The goalkeepers stay behind with Mike Marsh along with a few of us. I think I need to improve in a lot of areas.

"Scoring goals is one of them. It's such an important part of football. If a manager knows he can rely on a midfielder to score a few, it means he's likely to play a lot."

After finding himself confined solely to the Europa League at the start of the season, Henderson has managed to become an integral part of the club's league plans in recent months, however, despite an upturn in form he is refusing to get carried away with all the plaudits he's recently received.

Henderson added: "You have to find a consistency. Even when you are doing well you can't afford to get too carried away and have too much of a high.

"But when you're on a low you can't get too down. If you've got a balanced outlook, it helps.

"You need to be on the same path and keep yourself down to the ground. Especially when you're at a big club like Liverpool, everything is scrutinised by people.

"You've got to perform every week and if you don't do that, there's a chance you won't get picked or you'll be brought off quickly. The sooner you get your head around that, the better."